One of the selections for this year’s 11th annual REDCAT International Children’s Film Festival is a live-action short by a Los Angeles-based filmmaker who is barely into his teens.

Theo Taplitz’s “True Places Never Are,” which is the only student film to be included in the regular festival programming, is one of more than 65 films screening in the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex Saturday and every weekend through May 7. It tells the story of a grieving boy who stumbles onto a magical hole in a page of his late grandfather’s copy of “Treasure Island” and crawls through it, rediscovering joy through epic adventures.

“It’s really smartly done,” says Mark Murphy, executive director of REDCAT, who adds that the festival’s purpose is to offer families with children as young as 2 an artistic and cultural alternative to the usual popcorn fare.

Offerings include a mushroom that wakes up one morning to find his cap missing in “Schwammerlbert,” a girl living in the salt flats of Argentina who shares stories with the sun so it will forever shine in “Catalina and the Sun,” and a crow trying to escape the perception that it is anything other than a beautiful and intelligent bird in “Noir.”

“Some of the most innovative and experimental animators and filmmakers are working in short format and creating films that are appropriate for all audiences,” Murphy says, adding that children are more open to these nontraditional forms of storytelling.

The films are organized by theme into hourlong programs for different age groups, with “Cuddly Critters” and “Explore Galore” designed for toddlers and preschoolers to “Magic Potion” and “Imagine That” for kids 5 and up.

Families with kids older than 7 can take in the programs “Adventurama,” “Show Me a Story” and “Where the Giants Tread.” A wrap party closes out the festival May 7 with arts and crafts, snacks and beverages and more screenings.

For his film, featured in the “Imagine That” series and clocking in at just over 5 minutes, Taplitz — who made the short last year in the sixth grade — focuses on a day in the life of his character that changes everything.

“It’s not based around events necessarily; it’s more based on emotions with the emotion driving the story,” says the 13-year-old filmmaker, adding special effects allow his character to enter a world of paper ships, literary dragons and hidden treasure.

And that Taplitz will be sharing “True Places” with kids who are around the same age as he was when he first attended the film festival — his first ever — makes it “a really big deal for me.”

Los Angeles Daily News reporter Sandra Barrera has been writing about entertainment and lifestyle topics since 1998. Before joining the Daily News in 2000, she was a reporter for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin in Ontario where she helped launch the now-defunct entertainment magazine 72HOURS as its music writer. Her reporting career at the Daily News has included fashion coverage from the red carpet at Hollywood's biggest awards shows, home and garden trends with a particular focus on earth-friendly alternatives and a wide range of events, from theater to the latest happenings at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

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